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ADDRESS 



OF 



HON. ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 



RESPONSE OF 



Governor Thos. T. Crittenden 



ON THE OCCASION OP THE PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT OF 
HON. EDWARD HEMPSTEAD TO THE STATE OP MISSOURI, 



JEFFEHSON CITY, FEBRUARY 3, 1881. 



JEFFERSON CITY : 

TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 

1881. 



ADDRESS 



^' 



OF 



HON. ELIIiU B. WASHBURNE. 



♦t 



RESPONSE OF 



Governor Thos. T. Crittenden 



'ON THU OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT OP 
HON. EDWARD HEMPSTEAD TO THE STATE OF MISSOURI, 



JEFFERSON CITY, FEBRUARY 3, 1881 



JEFFERSON CITY: 

'TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY, 3TATK PRINTERS AND BINDKR3. 

1881. 






Senator Heard offi-red the followlrnr resolution : 

Rfsolved, That tUu-vn thou-^and (15,000) copio.e of the addrcps of Hon. Kllihu B. 
Washbtirno, tof^.-thcr with tht.- response of Governor Tlios. T. Crittenden, be printed; 
ten thousand copies for the use of the General Assembly, and five thousand copies for 
the use of Mr Washburne. 

Which was read and un.inimously adopted by the Senate and House of Represen- 
tatives In joint session, February 3, 1881. 

FRANCIS C. NESBIT, Secretary Senate. 

Mr. McGinnIs oflfered the following: 

Retolced, That the jrratefu! tbank-; of the people of Missouri be tendered the Hon. 
E. B. W:i-hhurne for the interesting and instructive address with which he has accom- 
panied his presentation to the State of the portrait of the Hon. Edward Hempstead^ 
the first delegate In Congress from the Territory of Missouri, as well as to Mr. Edward 
Hempstead, of Illinois, the donor of the portait, for his valuable gift. 

Read and unanimously adopted. February 3. 1881. 

J^ 11. IIAWLEV, Chief Clerk. 



ADDRESS. 



The joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives was 
presided over by Lieutenant-Governor Campbell, who introduced the 
distinguished guest as follows : 

Gentlemen of the Executive^ Legislative and Judicial Departments of 
the State: 

We have assembled here in this historic hall to-day to listen to an 
address by a gentleman who, in all the relations of a life of public ser- 
vice, whether in the legislative halls of his State or the nation, in the 
cabinet, or the diplomatic service of his country, has ever reflected 
credit upon himself and glory upon the American name. I will not 
anticipate the subject of his discourse, or the object of his visit to onr 
capital city. I take pleasure in introducing to you a gentleman whose 
name is known and honored by all the civilized nations of the earth, 
Elihu B. Washburne, the distinguished citizen of our sister common- 
wealth, the great State of Illinois. 

The portrait of Hon. Edward Hempstead was then brought for- 
ward and formally presented by Mr. Washburne in the following words : 

Gentlemen ofhoth Houses of the Legislature of MissovH: 

I am charged with the performance of a mission which will be ex- 
plained by a letter addressed to me, and which I beg leave to read : 

Chicago, January 27th, 1881. 
Hon. E. B. Washburne : 

Dear Sir — Some time since I ,'intimated to you my intention of 
presenting to the State of Missouri the portrait of my uncle, Edward 
Hempstead, provided the State should indicate a desire to possess it. 
This portrait was painted by Stuart, and was bequeathed to me by my 
father, Charles S. Hempstead. You now inform me that the House of 



Represenlatives of the General Aspcnibly of tliat State has passed a 
resolutioifc declaring that it will gratefully accept the donation. When 
the matter was first spoken of you had the kindness to say that if the 
State should accept the portrait, you would go in person to the City of 
Jellerson and make the presentation in my name. That oiler was very 
gratifying to me, particularly in view of the relationsliip of your wife, 
not only to my uncle, but to so many of the earlier settlers of St. Louis 
and Missouri. The time seems now to have arrived when I can carry 
out my purpose. I need not say that this portrait is very i)recious to 
all our family, hut as I have thought it might have a certain historic 
value to a State to wliich my uncle was so prominently, and, I believe, 
so honorably, identified in its earlier history, I, therefore, now beg to 
confide it to you, to he presented, in my name, to my native State of 
Missouri, at such time as will be convenient and agreeable to you. I 
have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

' EDWAlil) lIKMl'STEAl). 

The writer of this letter, Mr. Kdward Hempstead, of Chicago, is a 
native of Missouri. His father the late Charles S: Hempstead, long 
and justly distinguished as a citizen and lawyer, of (lalena, III., had 
practiced law in Missouri, both at St. Genevieve and St. Loui&, from 
1814 to 1829. The portrait now presented to the State of Missouri is 
that of the uncle of the donor, Edward Hempstead, his father's brother. 
It was painted by Stuart, and by all who knew Mr. Hempstead it has 
been regarded as a most perfect and admirable likeness, and as a work 
of art it has rare merit. 

The mission which the donor has confided to me is an agreeable 
one After a period of forty-one years it awakens pleasant reminis- 
censes of your State. It was in the month of March, 1S40, that I first 
saw St. Louis, and i' then had many traces of those early French set- 
tlers whose lives and whose names have become so important a part of 
your history. 

The early history of my own State of Illinois, as well as that of 
Missouri, and of all that vast empire, first discovered, explored and 
settled by the French, has to me all the interest of a romance. In the 
wild and rapid whirl of events in our country, we are too apt to neglect 
or forget history. Humanity sweeps onward, but the recollections of 
men and the histories of nations and peoples are too often buried in 
forgetfulness and oblivion. To rescue a name worthy to be remembered 
and honored, to recall great events, to look back upon the deeds of 
those who have gone before us, are objects worthy of all our considera- 
tion. 

The early history of your own State, and particularly of St. Louis, 
now become so great a city, will always excite the deepest interest 



among you. The names of the great, and brave, and the enterprising men, 
Avho, amid dangers, trials and sufferings, and under the most adverse 
circumstances, laid broad and deep the foundations of your great com 
mon wealth, should forever be honored in your memories. 

The subject of my paper to-night is one of your earliest and most 
distinguished pioneers, Edward Hempstead, whose portrait has been so 
appropriately and so generously presented to your State by his nephew, 
who bears his name. Mr. Hempstead has the great distinction of hav- 
ing been not only the first delegate of the Territory of Missouri in the 
Congress of the United States, but the first man who ever sat in the 
hall of our national councils from the west of the Mississippi river, and 
representing a country now in the space of less than three-quarters of 
a century, become an empire in population, enterpirse, wealth and all 
the elements that go to make up a great and free people. 

In the Territory represented by Mr. Hempstead in Congress from 
1812 to 1814, there are now the following states and Territories : Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and that 
part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river (States) and the Terri- 
tories of Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and W ashington. 

In 1810 the population of Arkansas was 1,062, and of Missouri 
19,783, a total of 20,845, and this comprised the entire population in 
what was then Upper Louisiana. In 1880 the population of these States 
and Territories carved therefrom was 7,494,465. Where in 1812 there 
was one delegate in Congress, there are now sixteen Senators, thirty- 
five Members of Congress and five delegates. There will be quite an 
increase of the number of Members of Congress under the new appor- 
tionment. 

Edward Hempstead was born at New London, Conn., on the 3d of 
June, 1780, and in the very throes of the revolutionary war. He was 
the second son of Step^ien Hempstead, who was just entering on the 
stage of manhood when the w-ar for independence broke out. The fam- 
ily belonged to the earliest settlers of the Connecticut colony. No 
sooner had the intelligence of the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, 
reached New London, than young Hempstead, then 22 years old, vol- 
unteered as a private soldier in the service of his countr3^ He went 
with the first troops who assembled at Boston after the battle of Lexing- 
ton, participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and saw the British, 
evacuate Boston. He was with Washington, and arrived at New York 
in July, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was read to the 
troops. He witnessed the pulling down of the royal insignia, and heard 
the words ''Free, Sovereign and Independent States" repeated and ac- ' 
claimed. In the same year he was one of the forlorn hope sent on a 
most perilous expedition in the "fire-ships" to burn the British man-of- 



6 

war Asia, of eifj;hty-lbur guns, then on the Hudson river above New 
York. He was a sergeant in the company of Capt. Nathan Hale, the 
"martyr spy." The steadfast and devoted friend of that brave, gen- 
erous and accomplished young officer, he accompanied him on his fatal 
mission. In 1811 he removed to St. Louis, where his son had preceded 
him, and settled on a farm a few miles from the present city. He was 
a man of much intelligence, of the strictest probity, and was possessed 
of all the elements of the best type of the New England character. 
Ho was universally respected, and died lamented by all who had 
known him. He and all his family were the firm friends of Vo\. Ben- 
ton, and their friendship was fully reciprocated by that distinguished 
man down to the last day of his life. It was my fortune to serve in the 
House of Kei)resentatives of the thirty-fourth Congress with Col. Ben- 
ton, and knowing the connection which I held by marriage to many of 
the earlier settlers of St. Louis, who were ecjually his friends, he was 
always very cordial to me. , 

I recollect that I made a call upon him ctn the evening of New 
Year's day, in 185(j. I found him (juite alone and in excellent spirits. 
He commenced at once to speak of the Hempsteads and the (Jratiots, 
and of theol^len times in St. Louis. Of Mr. Hempstead, the father, he 
spoke in the most expressive and beautiful language. He said : '' Mr. 
Hempstead was a true and brave man, a man pure and without re- 
proach, fearing God and discharging every public and jjrivate duty 
with scrupulous exactness ; he united benevolence with true piety, and 
in him patriotism was sublimated to the highest degree. In the words 
of the scripture, he 'has been blessed in all his generation.' Missouri 
met with an irreparable loss when his son, Edward Hempstead, died. 
No man could have stood higher in public or private estimation, and 
had he lived he would have received every honor that the State could 
bestow, and would certainly have been the first United States Senator. 
He lost his life in serving a friend, Mr. Scott. I was with him the night 
of his death." Here he j)aused a moment, as if in thought, and then 
continued abruptly : ****** 

'' Sir, how we did things in those days ! After being up with my 
dead friend all night, I went to my office in the morning to refresh my-* 
self a little before going out to bury him five miles from the town. 
While sitting at my .table writing a man brought me a challenge to fight 
a duel. I told the bearer instanter : ' I accept, but I must now go and 
bury a dead friend ; that is my first duty. After that is discharged I 
will fight to-night, if i)Ossible, if not, to-moriow morning at daybreak. 
I accept your challenge, sir, and Col. Lawless will write the acceptance 
and fix the terms for me ; I was outraged, sir, that the challenge should 
have been sent when I was burying a friend. 1 thouJigtit might have 



vbeen kept a few days, but when it came I was ready for it.'" Tliis con- 
Tersation so impressed me that I wrote it out immediately after my re- 
turn to my lodgings. 

This was the first duel which Col. Benton had with Capt. Charles 
Lucas, fought on Bloody Island, in August, 1817. The result of the sec- 
ond and fatal duel between the same parties, fought on the 27th of the 
-succeeding month, is known to you all. 

Mr. Edward Hempstead received a classical education under the 
'tuition of the Rev, Amos Bassett, a gentleman of piety and learning, in 
the town of Hebron, Conn. He early began the study ol law in his 
native State, first under Sylvester Gilbert, Esq., and finished under 
Jlnoch Huntington, Esq. He was licensed in 1801, and commenced 
practice in Connecticut. From there he removed to Newport, R. 1., 
where he became a partner of the Hon. Asher Robbins, afterwards a 
'distinguished member of the United States from that. State. After re- 
maining two years at Newport, though he gained a good reputation at 
the bar, and the avenue to a complete success seemed open to him, he 
-determined to seek a home west of the Mississippi. Louisiana had then 
(been purchased from France, and with prophetic vision he saw that 

"Westward the star of empire takes its way." 

For a young man with no resources but his own character and abili- 
ties to leave staid New England to settle in a country half-way across 
the continent, and just acquired from a foreign nation, was the con- 
'Ception of a stout heart and inspired by a great ambition. 

He left Newport, R. I., in June, 1804, and traveled on horseback (at 
rthat day almost the only conveyance west of the Allegheny mountains) 
to Vincennes, in the Territory of Indiana, where he arrived in due time. 
Finding that the civil laws of our government had not yet been ex- 
tended over Upper Louisiana, he remained at Vincennes until the fall 
of that year (1804), when he accompanied the Governor of Indiana 
Territory, Gen. William H. Harrison, to St. Louis, who visited that dis- 
trict or portion of Upper Louisiana to organize the civil government, 
•courts, etc. This province had just before that time been attached by 
-act of Congress to the Territory of Indiana for governmental and judicial 
purposes. Mr. Hempstead's arrival at St. Louis was but a few months 
after the formal transfer of the sovereignty of Upper Louisiana from 
jFrance to the United States had taken place. 

At this time, in the fall of 1804, the town could not have contained 
a population of more than one thousand souls, and there were but 
Tery few English-speaking families. There was not a brick house, or 
<sven a brick chimney in the place. The town was then almost as thor- 



8 

oujihly French as any provincial town in France to-day, with French: 
language, French usages, habits, and manners. There is nothing in 
history more touching than the devotion and allection wliich ,the 
French residents of St. Louis at that time had for the mother country. 
Though many of them had been driven out of their country by the storms 
of the revolution, yet the love of La Belle France was with them a su- 
preme and ruling passion. They bore with them through all their rela- 
tions, and all the vicissitudes of their frontier life, all the habits, the 
customs and usages of their own beloved France. For long years, when 
under French political and social domination, St. Louis was a center of 
commerce and of fashion. ^lany bf these early French settlers were 
men of enterprise, intelligence and energy, and, though far removed 
from civilization, they preserved much of the jmlish and grace charac- 
teristic of their nationality. It was on the lOth day of March, 1804, that 
the transfer of sovereignty was made. It was with feelings of sadness and 
regret that the great mass of French residents of St. Louis found their 
allegiance severed from France. This transfer of the sovereignty sank 
deep in their hearts. On the 10th of March, 1S04, tenderly and rever- 
ently the proud ensign of France was lowered in the presence of a 
great multitude and amidst tears and sighs, and then was Hung to the 
breeze of heaven the starry banner of our own republic on the balcony 
of the residence of Charles Gratiot, who saluted with respect and affec- 
tion this emblem of his adopted country. Adapting themselves with 
wonderful facility to the new order of things, the population soon be- 
came reconciled to the change. A new impetus was given to trade and 
business, and immigration began to How in. An era of prosperity was 
opened up to them, of which they had little dreamed, and soon real- 
ized how beneficial was the change of sovereignty to every interest;, 
they became loyal, true and devoted American citizens. If a digression, 
could be pardoned, I might speak of some of these early French resi- 
dents of St. Louis whom it was my pleasure and happiness to know 
but my time will only permit me to mention the one whom I knew the 
best. This man was Pierre Chouteau, Jr., who, as a merchant and a 
man of business for'nearly half a centurv, had no equal in the Missis- 
sippi valley. He had the genius of commerce, a bold spirit, and an un- 
erring sagacity. So long the successful manager of the American Fur 
Company, he acquired a reputation through all the vast northwest 
which made his name everywhere the synonym of commercial honor 
and personal integrity. In his personal appearance he was remarkable,, 
and no one who had ever seen him could forget him. Tall of stature,, 
erect, and of splendid proportions, his coal-black hair, tinged with gray 
in his late years, his keen, penetrating black eye, his pleasant and; 
sunny countenance, his French vivacity, his voice strong, vibrating, ac- 



centuated, his courtly but frank manners, made an impression at once 
lasting and agreeable. 

Mr. Hempstead first settled at St. Charles, on the Missouri river, 
where he opened an office and practiced his profession for about one 
year. Here he devoted himself to the acquisition of the French lan- 
guage, and to the study of the French and Spanish laws 

Though his residence at St. Charles was only a brief one, yet, 
during that time, he was appointed to and held several offices of high 
trust and importance connected with the courts. In the fall of 1805 he 
removed to and established himself at St. Louis, the seat of Govern- 
ment of Upper Louisiana. There he at once entered into a most ex- 
tensive, laborious and successful practice of his profession, not only 
in the courts of law, but before the tribunal established for the purpose 
of adjusting land claims and titles derived from the Spanish and 
French Governments in Upper Louisiana. Thoroughly studied in this 
branch of his profession, he was rewarded with corresponding success.. 
He not only practiced in the courts of St. Louis, but in the adjacent 
districts on the west side, and those in the "Illinois country," as it was 
then called, on the east side of the Mississippi rivf r. In 3 806 he was 
appointed deputy attorney-general for the districts of St. Louis and 
St. Charles, to the Territory of Upper Louisiana. In March, 1809, he 
received from Governor Merriwether Lewis the appointment of Attor- 
ney-General for that Territory, which he accepted and held until 1S12,, 
and the duties of which highly important office he performed with 
eminent ability, firmness and efficiency. 

I cjuote from a memoir of Mr. Hempstead, written by his friend 
Col. Benton, in 1818 : " Soon after his settlement in St. Louis, Mr. 
Hempstead married into one of the most respectable families of the 
place, but left no surviving issue. His private life was an example of 
all that is desirable in the character of husband, father, and neighbor. 
In that of son and brother he has had but few parallels. No sooner 
did he find himself established in his new residence in Missouri than 
his filial affections went in search of his parents and relatives, whom 
he had left in Connecticut when setting out to lay the foundation of 
his own fortunes in a country so remote and so little known. He 
brought them to Missouri, established his aged parents in a comfortable 
home, and extended the assistance of a father to his brothers and 
sisters. Traits of this kind display the heart ; they show the material 
of which it is made, and speak a higher eulogy than the tongue or pen 
of friendship can confer." 

In this connection, and particularly in reference to the interest 
taken by Mr. Hempstead in his family, I can not Ibrbear to quote a 
letter written by him to his brother, the father of the donor of this, 



10 

portrait, and just as he was entering upon the practice of his profession 
at Ste. (ienevieve. It sliows the elevated character of the man, and is 
as an *• apple of j^old in a picture of silver :'' 

'•St. Levis, January 13, 1S15. 

'You are leavinjj; me and liejrinning for yourself much sooner and 
at a much earlier ajje of life than is common. It behooves you, there- 
fore, to be most cautious and prudent. As it respects your conduct as 
a man, remember that you are p;oing to a place more dissipated than 
this, and where many of the first men in society are addicted to card- 
playing. As you have never begun, continue the resolution iiever to 
gamhle^ l)e the inducement what it may. Fall not into the hal)it many 
have of drinking. Be free and sociable with your equals in ajje and 
standing, but l>e circumspect with those older than yourself. Be care- 
iul in avoiding a misunderstanding with any man; if, however, it can 
not be prevented, when you are right stick to it to the end. 

" Touching your profession, close and constant study and reflection 
are nf)W very necessary, more especially as you will have to contend 
Avith gentlemen of long standing and of high reputation at the bar. 
Trust more to books for forms, and to memory for juinciples. Let all 
your declarations and pleadings be taken from established precedents. 
Encourage no one to commence a suit when he is wrojig, nor where he 
cannot succeed. Always make a bargain for the price you are to re- 
ceive for a fee in the beginning, that there may be no misunderstand- 
ing afterward, and if the money is not paid take a note for it. 

" I might suggest many other hints to you, but I confide much in 
your discretion and in the general correctness of your ideas. Perse- 
verance and industry will, I have no doubt, enable you to support your- 
self with honor, give you reputation, without which you cannot succeed 
in the manner I have just reason to anticipate, and acquire for yourself 
wealth, fame and happiness." 

By act of Congress, approved October 31, 1803, the President was 
authorized to take possession of and occupy the territory ceded by 
France to the United States April 30, 1S03. The next act relating to 
Louisima passed by Congress was to authorize the creation of a stock 
to pay the purchase money of sixty millions of francs, or $11,250,000. 
By act of March 2^, 1801, Louisiana was erected into two Territories. 
The portion which lay south of the Mississippi Territory, extending 
westward to the western boundary of the territory ceded by France, 
waste constitute a Territory of the United States under the name of 
"Orleans." The residue of the Province of Louisiana, which included 
the present State of Missouri, was organized under the name of the 
District of Louisiana, and the executive power of the district was vested 



11 

in the Governor and judges of Indiana Territory, who were authorized 
to establish in tlie said District of Louisiana iijferior courts, and pre- 
scribe the jurisdiction and the duties thereof, and to make all laws 
which they might deem conducive to the good government of the in- 
habitants thereof, with certain limitations therein set down. The 
Secretary of Indiana Territory was made the Secretary of fhe District 
of Louisiana. In fact, what is now the State of Missouri was then 
practically a part of Indiana Territory. 

The act of March 26, 1804, providing for erecting Louisiana into two 
Territories, did not provide for any legislature, but provided that the 
legislative power of the Territory of Orleans should be vested in the 
•Governor and in thirteen of the most fit and discreet persons of the 
Territory, to be called the Legislative Council, to be appointed annually 
by the President of the United States from among those holding real 
estate, etc. The act providing for the government of the Territory of 
Orleans, passed March 2, 1805, changed this by providing that the Gov- 
ernor of said Territory should cause to be elected twenty-five repre- 
sentatives of the people, who, with the members of the Legislative 
Council, appointed and commissioned by the President, as above stated, 
were to constitute a '' General Assembly." 

The act of Congress, June 4, 1812, provided that the Territory hith- 
erto called Louisiana, should thereafter be called Missouri, and declares 
how the government of the Territory of Missouri shall be organized 
and administered. 

The legislative power of the Territory was vested in a General As- 
sembly, consisting of the Governor, a Legislative Council, to consist of 
nine members, and a House of Representatives of thirteen members. 
The members of the council were appointed by the President of the 
United States, from' a list of eighteen persons, submitted to him by the 
House of Representatives. The House of Representatives was to be 
composed of members elected every second year by the people. No 
man could be a member of the Legislative Council unless he owned in 
his own right two hundred acres of land in the Territory, and no man 
was eligible to the House or Representatives unless a freeholder in 
the county in which he might be elected. 

For the first time in the territory acquired from France, provision 
was made in this act for the election by the citizens of the said territory 
of one delegate to the Congress of the United States. Missouri having 
been erected into a Territory June 4, 1812, Benjamin A. Howard, who 
was then Governor of the Territory of Louisiana, on the 1st day of 
October, 1812, issued at St. Louis, the then capital, a proclamation, de- 
<jlaring that the new territorial government would commence its opera- 



12 

tion on tJic 1st day of December of that year, and districting the Terri- 
tory for thirteen members of the House of Representatives, as follows : 
St. Charles, two; St. Louis, four; Ste. Genevieve , three; Cape Gi- 
rardeau, two; New Madrid, two. It was declared therein that New 
Madrid should be the seat of justice for the future county of New 
Madrid, which future county would comprise the then district of New 
Madrid, and Arkansas, the then Territory of Missouri, embracing what 
is now the State of Arkansas. 

This proclamation fixed the election of the said House of Repre- 
sentatives and a territorial delegate to the Congress of the United 
States, on the second Monday of the following month of November.^ 
IS!-. This was at the time of the war with CiSreat Britain. 

At this election Edward Hempstead was elected delegate to Con- 
gress. Tliis election took place just one week (November 2, 1812), from 
the opening of the second session of the twelith Congress, to which he 
had been elected. On the 4th of January, 1813, he took his seat, as 
shown by the following entry in the journal : '' Monday, January 4, 
1813, Edward Hempstead, returned to serve as the delegate in this^ 
House from the Territory of Missouri, appeared, produced his creden- 
tials, was (pialilied, and took his teat." A cpiestion arose whether the 
delegate, thus elected, could remain a delegate after the expiration of 
the Twelfth Congress on the 4th of March, 1813. 

The first official act of Mr. Hempsteal was a motion to raise a. 
committee of the House to inquire into the matter. Of that committee 
Mr. Hempstead was chairman. The practice of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of that date was different from that of the present time. 
Under the present rules and practicfesof the House of Representatives,, 
the territorial delegat-^s cannot sit on the committees of the House. On 
the 15th day of January, Mr. Hempstead introduced into the House 
certain resolutions, instructing the Committee on Public Lands to in- 
quire into the expediency of legislation in regard to the adjudication 
of land claims, etc., in the Territory of Louisiana (then Missouri), and, 
also, instructing the same committee to inquire into the expediency of 
granting the right of preemption to actual settlers on public lands in 
the Territory of Missouri. 

On the 29th of January, 1813, 'Mr. McKee, from the committee ap- 
pointei on the motion of Mr. Hempstead, to inquire into thp question 
of further legislation in regard to election of delegate from the Terri- 
tory of Missouri, reported that no legislation was necessary, for the 
reason that the delegate having been elected for two yearS under the 
provision of the law organizing the Territory, he could hold his seat for 
that term ; that is to say, from the second Monday in November, 1812,. 



V6 

lill the second Monday in November, 1814; that the delegate elected 
in pursuance of law and for the term of two years, could not be de- 
prived of his seat by any subsequent law. 

Mr. Hempstead appears to have been on other committees than the 
•one I have referred to. He was on a committee to whom was referred 
the petition of Daniel Boone, and the resolutions of the legislature of 
Kentucky in his behalf, and made a report thereon. 

The first session of the Thirteenth Congress met on the 21th of May, 
1813, but Mr. Hempstead did not take his seat till the 10th of June ; 
this session of Congress adjourned on the 2d of August, and Mr. 
Hempstead's name is not connected with anj^ measure introduced 
In the House during that session, Mr. Clay was the Speaker of this 
House. 

The second session of this Thirteenth Congress convened on the 
Cth of December, 18:3, and Mr. Hempstead was present as delegate 
from the Territory of Missouri. He had given his attention to a subject 
of vast importance to the Territory that he represented. It was the 
question of the final adjustment of land titles upon the bill which had 
been presented in the House in accordance with resolutions theretofore 
introduced by him. It was on this bill that he made what appears to 
be his onl}^ speech during his term of service. As reported in the " His- 
tory of Congress, " it is an able one. He treats of the questions pre- 
sented with great clearness, evincing a thorough knowledge of his sub- 
ject and of the questions of international law which were involved. He 
contended that the title to lands in Louisiana Territory, before Spain 
ceded it to France in 1803, should be recognized and confirmed by the 
United States ; that the acts of the Spanish government in granting 
titles to lands in Louisiana Territory from the time of the cession to 
France in 1800 and up to the time France cedel it to the United States in 
1803, should be recognized and confirmed by the United States. France 
had never taken possession of the country ceded by Spain in 1800, but 
had left the latter CQuntry in the full exercise of its sovereignty up to 
the time of the cession to the United States in 1803. Former acts of 
■Congress had cut off all of these grants made by the Spanish govern- 
ment, violating, as he contended, not only the treaty with France, but 
the well known principles of international law. Mr. Hempstead char- 
acterized this law as " the violation of every principle either of law or 
equity; it declared. that which had been legally commenced under an- 
other government to be null and void ; it made void the proceedings of 
a power in the just exercise of its sovereignty. Instances have often oc- 
curred, where what had been lawfully begun, but not completed, has 
been sanctioned and acknowledged, especially when it depended on 
the performances of conditions which subsequent events had made it 



14 

impossible to perform, but never could a. lawful act be made unlawful. 
A right once vested could not, without any fault of the claimant, be 
eitiier at law or in ecjuity divested;'' such a principle changed the na- 
ture of things, and was, therefore, odious, " Would, " asked Mr. 
Hempstead, "the Spanish government have sanctioned the grants made 
by its officers? If so, they ought now to be sanctioned; without the 
solemn stipulations of the treaty to support it, policy alone would dic- 
tate such a course. " He appealed in behalf of his constituents : '' Lib- 
erality will secure the affections of those vou have made a part of your 
family; it will root old attachments, while a more rigid jdan will oc- 
casion distrust and dissatisfaction, and the change will be regarded as 
injurious. No national benefit can result from this rigor ; a few acre* 
of land to the Fnited States are nothing, but taken away from indi- 
viduals may cause distress and ruin. ^lany of them are strangers to- 
your language and unacquainted with your laws; their affections ought 
not to be estranged when extending justice to them will secure their 
confidence.'" Mr. Hempstead then showed the injustice of other laws- 
which had been passed on this subject : " They had been so amended 
and altered by so many different statutes that difliculties had been in- 
creased instead of diminished. If could not be denied that the people 
of his Territory were in a worse situation in that respect than others. 
It now remains for me, Mr. Speaker, to consider very briefly whether 
the present bill will do full and complete justice to the claimants. 
During the ten years of scrutiny and investigation, few have made im- 
provements. Many families, desi)airing of obtaining their ecpiitable 
claims, and tired of the uncertainties attending their titles, have aban- 
doned a country which cannot prosper without the fostering aid of the 
government, and, if the delay of justice has not, in all cases, beerk 
equal in its consecjuences to an absolute denial of it, still it has caused 
much distress and injury. The present bill will quiet the apprehen- 
sions of most of the claimants, and although it will neither satisfy nor 
do justice to all, yet it will restore that confidence which has been much 
impaired, and will do what the national faith is pledged to do." The 
act of Congress, which ]\Ir. Hempstead had introluced, and so ably 
and strenuously advocated, became a law on the 12th day of April, 1814. 
It was a law of transcendent importance to the people of the Territory 
of Missouri, for it confirmed "" the incomplete Spanish grants or con- 
ceptions, or any warrant or order of survey for lands lying within the 
Territory of Missouri prior to March 10, 1804," which was the date 
when the sovereignty of P>ance over Upper Louisiana passed to the 
sovereignty of the United States. The act also provided for giving to- 
the settlers of ^Missouri Territory the right of prfi-emption to public lands,. 
a beneficent act which extended the princii^le which had been applied 
to other Territories. 



15 

Mr. Hempstead's name does not further appear in the proceedings- 
of this session of Congress, which adjourned on the 18th day of April, 
1814, to meet on the last Monday of the following October. Mr. Madi- 
son, however, called an extra session of Congress to meet on the 19th 
of September, 1814. Mr. Hempstead seems not to have taken his seat 
at this extra session of Congress, and probably for the reason that the 
term of two years for which he was elected would expire in about six: 
weeks after the meeting of said extra session. 

Mr. Hempstead, as I have said before, took his seat as delegate in 
Congress from the Territory of Missouri on the 4th of January, J 813^ 
Let us take a glance at the members who composed this house, and we 
will find many of the great names of this country. We may well say r 
" There were giants in those days." Henry Clay was speaker ; from 
New Hampshire there was Samuel Dinsmore, and from Vermont, Mar- 
tin Chittenden ; from Rhode Island, Elisha R. Potter, men afterward 
so distinguished in their own States ; from New York, Url Tracy ; from 
Pennsylvania, Jonathan Roberts ; from Maryland, Philip Barton Key; 
from Virginia, John Randolph, Burwell Bassett, and James Pleasants, 
Jr. That great man Nath. Macon, was a member from North Carolina,, 
and, also, Wm. R. King, afterward Senator from Alabama and Vice- 
President of the United States; from South Carolina, there was John 
C. Calhoun, Wra. Lowndes and Langton Cheves; from Kentucky, be- 
sides Mr. Clay, the speaker, were Richard M. Johnson and Joseph 
Desha. In the thirteenth Congress, for a part of which Mr. Hemp- 
stead was a member, there were other distinguished names. Daniel 
Webster, from New Hampshire; Richard Skinner, from Vermont; 
Charles J. Ingersoll,frora Pennsylvania; John Forsythe, from Georgia, 
and John McLean, subsequently Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, from Ohio, and John W. Taylor, from New York, after- 
ward Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Mr. Hempstead, having successfully accomplished the objects for 
which he was sent to Congress, declined a re-election, and returned to 
the practice of his profession, and to the performance of all the duties 
of a good citizen. In this latter capacity he showed his disposition to 
be useful to his country by accepting inferior stations, after having re- 
tired from the highest which the vote of his fellow citizens could con- 
fer upon him. He went out in several expeditions to protect the fron- 
tiers from the Indians during the war which followed, and afterward 
served in the General Assembly of the Territory, of which he was 
elected speaker in the popular branch. 

The service of Mr. Hempstead as delegate was for two years — from 
November 12, 1812, till November 12, 1814. Ru'us Easton succeeded 
him, and took his seat in the House on November 16, 1814, four days 



in 

after the expiration of Mr. liempstead's term. This was in the thir- 
teenth Congress. 

John Scott succeeded Mr. Kaston as a delegate to the fourteenth 
Congress, and took his seat on the second day o; December, 1816. His 
seat was contested by Kufus Easton. Tiie committee reported that Mr. 
Scott was not entitled to the seat, and that Mr. Easton wa-i entitled to 
it. The House overruled the committee, and decided, by a vote of 7*.> to 
68, that Mr. Easton was not entitled to his seat, biit also adopted a re so 
lution declaring the seat vacant, and refused to pass a resolution order- 
ing a new election for the Territory. It is a somewhat singular fact 
that the two first delegates for Missouri Territory to Congress were 
Connecticut men, Edward Hempstead and Kufus Easton. Mr. Easton 
filled a long space in the earlier as well as the latter history of Missouri. 
I have often heard Mr. Charles 8. Hempstead, who was for many years 
my law partner, speak of Mr. Easton, who was a member of the St. 
Louis bar at the same time as himself. He described him as a man of 
such unrivaled conversational [)ower that none who ever met him for- 
got the fascinating flow of his worls. Judge Bay, in his interesting 
reminiscences of the bench an i bar of Missouri, says that Mr. Easton 
served Missouri as a delegate to Congress for four years. In that he is 
mistaken, for Mr. Easton only served for one term. The three delegates 
that the Territory of Missouri had in Congress were Edward Hempstead, 
Kufus Easton and John Scott, and it is safe to say that no Territory of the 
United States was ever so ably represented. The canvass of delegate 
to Congress for the Territory of Missouri, in the summer of 181<», was 
between Ilufus Easton and John Scott. 

Mr. Hempstead was the friend and supporter of Mr. Scott, and en- 
tered warmly into the canvass in his behalf. In returning from St. 
Charles to St. Louis a day or two before the election, which was on 
Monday, August 4, 1^17, he was thrown from his horse, and received 
what was supposed to be but a slight injury on his head. He was able, 
however, to continue his journey home, and afterwards to attend to his 
usual business. The injury he received was, however, far more serious 
than was at first supposed. In arguing a cause in court on the 0th of 
August, he was stricken down with congestion of the brain, the un- 
doubted result of his being thrown from his horse; falling senseless, 
he lingered until half pa>^t 12 o'clock Sunday morning, when he ex- 
pired. I copy a mournful entry made by his venerable father, Stephen 
Hempstead, in his diary, dated August 9, 1817: "Went into St. Louis, 
this afternoon, and found my son Edward in a fit of apoplexy, and not 
able to speak. Every medical aid was used to restore his system again, 
but to no purpose. He continued until half past 12 o'clock and ex- 
pired in the bloom of life at the age of 37 years and 3 months." His 



17 

funeral took place on Monday, the lltli of August, on the farm of his 
father, five miles from town, which now constitutes the Bellefontaine 
cemetery. I copy another entry made in the same diary, dated Mon- 
day, August 11, in relation to the funeral : "The funeral was attended 
by a very numerous collection of people of every description whose 
laces were uniformly wet with the tears of sorrow for their depar ted 
friend. The neighbors in the country were generally collected at my 
house for the funeral. Mr. Giddings made a prayer, and committed 
to the grave the remains of a beloved son, cut down suddenly in the 
prime of life and usefulness, a great loss to my family, but much greater 
to the Territory and public in general." 

The following obituary notice appeared in The Missouri Gazette of 
August 16, 1817: " Died, on Sunday night last, after a short illness, 
Edward Hempstead, Esq., counsellor and attorney at law, and formerly 
a delegate from this Territory to Congress. In the dear relation of 
husband, son and brother, the deceased is believed to have fully acted 
up to his duty. The sorrow of his widow and relations offered the most 
eloquent expression of his worth. On Monday the corpse of the de- 
ceased was attended to the place of interment (at the plantation of 
his father, Stephen Hempstead, Esq.,) by a greater number of re- 
spectable citizens than we have ever witnessed here on a similar oc- 
casion.') 

The Rev. Salmon Giddings delivered the funeral sermon on Mr. 
Hempstead on August 17, 1817. It was an eloquent and feeling tribute 
to the worth of the deceased. After alluding to his settlement in 
Louisiana Territory, he says : 

"Here, by his diligent attention to business, he had ac- 
quired a fortune, and by his virtuous conduct had gained the confi- 
dence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. In the private walks of life 
few shone so bright. He was modest and unassuming, and endeared to 
all around him by a thousand tender ties. As his influence was exten- 
sive, he used it for the peace and benefit of society. In him the op- 
pressed found a protector, and the poor a benefactor. * * * 
His professions of friendship were few but sincere, and his attachments 
ardent. Those who knew him best esteemed him most. * * * 
Few men were so exemplary in their lives. As a son he was most du- 
tiful and affectionate. Few, very few, have done in that capacity what 
he did. As a husband he was kind and indulgent, pleasing and agreea- 
ble. * * * Asa professsional character he shone conspicu- 
ous. His talents were rather solid than splendid. Of quick apprehen- 
sion, a discriminating mind and clear judgment, his counsel was much 
sought and highly esteemed. He was surpassed by few in his profes- 
A— 2 



IS 

sion, and in whatever sphere he was called to act he shone with more 
than -common lustre. His loss is not only individual but public. The 
oppressed have lost a protector, the poor a benefactor, the rich an amia- 
ble and ajrreeable companion, a wise and prudent counselor, the vicious 
a reprover, virtue a friend and the Territory one of its brightest orna- 
ments." 

The cotemporaries of Mr. Hempstead in the Territory of Upper 
Louisiana, and afterward Missouri, at the bar, and in the field of poli- 
tics were men of great ability and who have left an indellible impres- 
sion upon your history. 

They were Thomas 11. Benton, Kufus Easton, John Scott, J. B, C 
Lucas, David Barton, Kdward Bates, Luke E. Lawless and Robert 
Wash, Thouirh they iiave all Ton*; since jrone to that " undiscovered 
country, from whose bourne no traveler returns," their names and their 
memories shall live so lonp; as Missouri shall have a place in history, 

1 have thus sketched imi)erfectly, and, I fear, tediously, the career 
of Edward Hempstead, whose name is honorably associated with the 
earliest history of your State. His record as a citizen, a lawyer and a 
public servant, reveals a man whose memory the people of Missouri 
will ciierish with feelings of pride and gratitude. 

The portrait presented to your State may assist in perpetuating the 
remembrance of one who rendered great and important service to the 
infant Territory of Missouri, and one who in every position of his life 
exhibited all (hose qualities which cliallenge the admiration and respect 
of mankind. 

" The man rcsolvod and .''tcadj' to liis trust, 
Indexible to ill, and obstinately just,^' 

Governor Critiefiden, Senators ajid Representatives^ Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 

I cannot close without tendering to you my profound acknowledg- 
ments for all the cordiality of your reception. I visit the Capital of 
your great State for the first time, and am particularly fortunate in be- 
ing here when your Legislature is in session, as it has enabled /ne to 
meet so many gentlemen who I am most happy to know. I shall 
bear with me the most agreeable souvenirs of your kindness, and 
always guard the recollection of your gracious hospitality. 

ACCEPTANCE IN BEHALF OF THE SIATE. 

At the conclusion of the address, Gov. Crittenden stepped forward 
and accepted the portrait, and said : 



19 

.Mf. President^ Mr. Washburne, Senators and Bepi'eseniatives, Ladies 
and Gentlemen: 

In the name of the people of the State of Missouri, I sincerely 
thank the distinguished gentleman to whose splendid address we have 
just listened with much interest and pleasure, and I now commission him? 
in the name of the citizens of this commonwealth, to bear to the gen- 
•erous donor of this potrait our heartfelt thanks. Mr. Washburne, upon 
your presentation to the Senate on yesterday, it was truthfully said of 
you that your name and reputation belonged to our common coun- 
try; but we have another and a stronger reason for reciprocating 
your fraternal sentiments. You come from a State from which we are 
only separated by a narrow stream. We proudly refer to the Missis- 
sippi as the grandest river upon the face of the earth, but its commer- 
cial importance, in which Missouri and Illinois are equally interested, 
but serves to strengthen our feelings and to render more certain a re- 
ciprocitj^ upon our i)art of every sentiment you have uttered mani- 
festing an interest in the welfare of our beloved State. No words of 
mine can convey to you or to the gentleman whom you represent an 
adequate conception of our appreciation of his gift. This occasion and 
the address made by Mr, Washburne are important, not alone as mark- 
ing an episode in the life of Missouri, but they have a historic value. Much 
that was never before known, save to a favored few, is now a part of 
our history ; and when in years to come we shall look upon the portrait 
of Hon. Edward Hempstead, the first delegate in Congress from the 
Territory of Missouri, we will, by the untarnished record of his pure 
life, be incited to loftier aims and more exalted purposes. And, sir, 
£To Mr. Washburne,] as the same waters which wash the shores of Illi- 
nois lave the borders of Missouri and then meet and mingle in their 
onward sweep to the gulf, forming as they go a mighty artery of com- 
merce, so may the mutuality of good will and fraternal feelings which 
now characterize the people of these sister States form a still closer 
bond of union between us as we sweep onward to a common eternity. 
Again I thank you. 



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